


Miami Rangers

by Hagar



Category: CSI: Miami, Power Rangers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Power Rangers, Crack, Episode: s04e25 One Of Our Own, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-25
Updated: 2012-04-25
Packaged: 2017-11-04 07:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/391367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/pseuds/Hagar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natalia wasn't supposed to find the morphers, and she certainly wasn't supposed to bond with Megan's old morpher. In Horatio's absence, Calleigh needs to deal with the situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miami Rangers

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be the lead-in for a bigger work; I have the timeline plotted from S1 to early S5. However, at some point I realized this is probably not going to happen. I'm fond enough of the concept and of this fragment, though, and so it's being posted.

_August 2006, Miami-Dade CSI Dept._

_This,_ thought Natalia very clearly as power surged through her, tinting the world yellow, _was not supposed to happen._

They were standing in the firearms bay, at the firing lane, well out of sight from the main hallway of the lab. Natalia was facing the door, the open morpher trunk in front of her and her right hand laying on top of the one morpher in it. Ryan and Calleigh were facing her.

“This did not just happen!” Ryan yelled, throwing his arm and pointing at Natalia, still frozen in place with shock. “She’s the mole, goddamnit!”

“Not anymore,” said Calleigh. Her voice was even, tranquile almost, but Natalia had been at the lab long enough to know that nothing short of immediate grief or murderous rage could disrupt Calleigh Duquesne’s composure.

“No,” said Ryan. He crossed his arms on his chest then uncrossed them again. “She is not one of us.”

Calleigh’s voice grew infitesimally sharper. “This is not up to either you or me to decide.”

The power surge dissipated slowly while they were talking. Natalia found her voice and said, “I didn’t betray you, I was _covering up_ for you…”

Ryan turned to face her fully. “And I am supposed to believe you why, Ms. Eff-Bee-Eye?”

“Because she is your teammate,” said Calleigh. Anyone else – anyone but the Lieutanant, perhaps – would have snapped, would have bitten these words out. Calliegh drew herself up, seeming suddenly much bigger than the skinny, average-height woman she was. “She’s our teammate.”

Ryan withdrew half a step. “I can’t believe this.”

“We don’t have time for this, Ryan,” said Calleigh. “Horatio and Eric will be gone for a while, and we have work to do. Natalia? If you’ll come with me, please.”

Calleigh didn’t move until Ryan had stalked off. When Natalia made to follow her, Calleigh stopped her. “Your morpher, Natalia,” she said. “You wear this always, now.”

“Is it really mine?” asked Natalia.

“Yes,” said Calleigh. “As much as a morpher is ever anyone’s.”

Natalia removed the morpher from the foam, and hung it over her neck, letting the small orb slink under her shirt.

She followed Calleigh into Horatio’s office, sat down as directed and waited quietly, eyes never leaving the other woman, while Calleigh made them both coffee, set the mugs on the small table, and then returned to Lt. Caine’s desk and fetched one of the framed photographs that hung over it.

Natalia knew that photo.

Calleigh sat across from her and handed it to Natalia. “This was Lt. Megan Donner,” she said. Her voice was as close to lifeless as Natalia had ever heard it. “She was day shift supervisor before Horatio, and then assistant day shift supervisor before me after her husband was killed in the line of duty. She held the morpher that you are now holding.”

The woman in the photo had dark curls and a strong, oval-shaped face that could have been even prettier if her mouth was not set in the unmistakeble shape of a deep hurt. The inscription beneath the photo said _Megan Donner, 1964-2002._

Natalia swallowed. She put the photo on the table, gently, thumbing the tab in the back of the frame so that it stood at a slight angle, Lt. Donner’s grief-lined face looking up at her.

 _What happened?_ She wanted to ask. And also: _Four years is a long time._ And –

She swallowed again.

“Drink your coffee,” said Calleigh. “It isn’t getting hotter.”

Natalia picked the cup and the saucer with hands that should have been shaking more and forced herself to take a sip. Calleigh had put two creames and two sugar in it, just like Natalia liked it.

“I’m sorry,” she said, because that was on top of the list of things she wanted to say. “I’m sorry for lying to you and I’m sorry – ”

“Natalia.” Calleigh leaned forward, put her hand on Natalia’s thigh. “I believe you. If you didn’t want to protect this team, if you didn’t want to protect this city, then the morpher would have sooner killed you than accepted you.”

“Did this happen before?”

Calleigh didn’t smile as she leaned back and picked up her coffee again. “There are reasons we keep these a secret.”

Natalia nodded, then took a deep breath. “What happened?” she asked, gesturing at Lt. Donner’s photo. “What happened to her? I thought – after seeing you guys this year – ”

“We’re not invincible,” said Calleigh. “Natalia, you must _never_ doubt whether you should be a Ranger, do you understand me?”

Natalia’s hand clenched around the cup’s handle and her throat seized up as she understood what Calleigh had just told her: _don’t doubt whether you should be a Ranger, because this is how Megan died._

“There’s so much I don’t know,” she said out loud.

“And I’m going to tell you,” said Calleigh.


End file.
